London: The Indian women’s team blanked Rwanda, while the men matched the feat against Guatemala as they stormed into Stage 2 at the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships 2026, topping their respective Stage 1 groups with wins in their final group ties at the Wembley Arena on Thursday.
The Indian women opened their campaign with a walkover against Uganda before edging Ukraine in their second tie to top Stage 1b Group 6. They came back later to blank Rwanda 3-0.
The Indian men’s team, on the other hand, blanked Tunisia 3-0 in their first tie and then rallied to beat Slovakia in the second to finish on top of Stage 1b Group 7.
World No. 48 and Olympian Manika Batra set the tone for the Indian women’s team, making light work of Chantal Hirwa with a 3-0 (11-3, 11-3, 11-3) win.
Diya Chitale then brushed aside Elevine Tumukunde 3-0 (11-2, 11-1, 11-3) before Syndrela Das sealed the tie with another comfortable 3-0 (11-2, 11-6, 11-2) victory.
Meanwhile, Olympian Sathiyan Gnanasekaran began proceedings for the Indian men’s team with a 3-0 (11-3, 11-2, 11-9) win over Sergio Carrillo.
Manav Thakkar, 61st in the table tennis rankings, was in action next and the Indian table tennis player breezed past Ian Morales 3-0 (11-4, 11-6, 11-5) to pave the way for Payas Jain to close out the tie with a 3-0 triumph (11-5, 11-5, 11-6) against Ricardo Gatica.
A total of 64 teams – divided into 16 groups of four – are participating in each of the men’s and women’s events.
The World Team Table Tennis Championships were first staged as a standalone competition in 2000, with the ongoing edition of the tournament set to conclude on May 10.
The 2026 edition marks 100 years since the inaugural World Table Tennis Championships in London, returning to its birthplace for a landmark celebration. This is the largest team competition in the event’s history, with 64 men’s and 64 women’s teams competing over 13 days across two iconic venues: the Copper Box Arena and OVO Arena Wembley.
(IANS)
